Alejandro's Gift
"Alejandro's Gift" is Episode 3 in Season 13. It originally aired on October 4, 1995. Synopsis The episode begins with LeVar driving in his jeep through one of the hottest, driest deserts in the US: Indian Canyons, just outside of Palm Springs, California. Right in the middle of it is a special place that is so cool--literally--it will make you change the way you think of deserts forever. Suddenly, LeVar hears a hissing sound coming from his jeep. He's having car trouble! After pulling over, he checks under the hood. His hunch was right. The engine is overheating. Luckily, he doesn't have far to go. He can walk the rest of the way and get the water he needs. It's not easy to find some in the desert. You have to know where to look for it. And if you're lucky, a friend can help out. That's just what happens in the title book. LeVar explains that the main/title character in the title book gave his animals friends water, nature's most beautiful gift. Different kinds of animals have many ways of finding and using it. For example, an ostrich has to dip its head in to drink. Elephants can spray themselves with it to take their baths by using their trunks. A giraffe has to stretch its neck to drink its fill. Birds in the desert can get it from a cactus. Even raccoons wash themselves with it before a meal. LeVar has just arrived at the place where you may have never thought about finding water, especially in the desert. When you see trees in one, you know that you're near an oasis--an area in one where water flows right through. LeVar meets Morgan Lavigne, a naturalist who knows every part of the desert and its oasis. Oasis water comes from three different places: snow melting on the mountains, mountain springs, and underground mineral springs. Since the desert has water, people can live there near an oasis. Native Americans used to live in Indian Canyons years ago. Besides the water, they also needed animals and plants to help them survive there. It was the oasis water that made it all possible. Morgan shows LeVar special palm trees that grew near the oasis about a thousand years ago. When these are set on fire, they can produce fruit. Their leaves were used for the roofs of houses in the desert. They also made spoons and baskets from it. Morgan considers part of Indian Canyons as a desert grocery store. She shows LeVar a plant called the yarba santa. It was used for curing colds. They would boil the leaves into something like cough syrup. They are also chewable. LeVar chews on one and says that it's gummy. It helps quench one's thirst, yet it's somewhat bitter. Morgan shows him a four-wing salt bush which Native Americans used in various ways like getting soap for washing clothes. If there was one important bush or tree in the oasis, it would have to be the mesquite tree. It was most important to the Indian tribe who lived there. The flowers that grow on it are edible and called the honey mesquite. Morgan shows LeVar what a desert kitchen looked like when the tribe lived around the oasis. He thanks her for giving him a tour of the oasis. She reminds him to get some water for his jeep on the way back. And that's just what he does. LeVar tells the viewers that flowing water is one of the most important and powerful sources on Earth. In some places where it rushes with so much force, like Niagara Falls, it puts on such an exciting show. Three quarter million gallons of it plunge over the falls every second. Millions of people come to visit there every year. The water that rushes over the falls generates the electrical energy. During the winter months, ice breakers come to crack the ice to keep the falls flowing all year long. LeVar is giving his car engine the water it needs for the trip home. He also wants to be sure that he has enough for himself. Before he leaves, he reminds the viewers that water is one of the Earth's most wonderful things that keeps us alive. "Let's make every drop of water count," he says as he drives off through the desert. Review Books *Water, Water Everywhere *It Rained on the Desert Today *The Desert Alphabet Book Category:Season 13 Category:Episodes